Re: propdef tables for shorthands

On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 9:55 AM, fantasai <fantasai.lists@inkedblade.net> wrote:
> We've been leaving most fields in shorthand propdef tables
> as "see individual properties", but, I think going forward
> we should fill these in if all sub-properties have the same
> value. This is more useful to people looking things up in
> the spec, especially as we are encouraging people to use
> shorthands over longhands in many cases.

I disagree.  Doing so would suggest that shorthands persist somehow in
the CSS data model, when in reality they're expanded into longhands at
the very beginning of the cascade process.  They don't apply to
anything, they don't inherit, etc.  It doesn't help authors build a
good mental model to suggest otherwise.

It's also an editing hazard - if we change any subproperty such that
not all of them are identical, we have to remember to update the
shorthand as well; if we forget, we have confusing incorrect
information.

~TJ

Received on Thursday, 5 May 2016 18:11:20 UTC